Hey all, I've been taking it slow on modding the 4Runner trying to stay near stock to keep from spending unecessarily as well as use the parts I paid good money for from Toyota in 2017. That being said, I'm to the point where I'm looking at either buying a full set of skid plates or a front bumper + winch to give me more protection/safety while I'm out on the trails.

1. Has anyone added full skids to stock suspenion? Does it sag your front even more or is it a pretty even distribution?
2. As for the bumper + winch, I'm fairly certain this will dip the front end. My question is, do I need to do a full replacement? I'm not necessarily opposed to it but it seems drastic for adding ~200lbs to the front end.

So far, ground clearance hasn't been an issue for me so a lift would be purely cosmetic at this point. What kind of suspension components do you think I should be looking at in this situation?

I think if you were doing a front bumper you'd want to add in the cost of at least partial suspension upgrade to get any height back that you might lose by adding the weight to the front end. Also keep in mind spring rates and ride comfort on top of the change in visual appearance.

Beyond that, I don't have any experience with the two mods so I can't be of too much help. I'm asking myself a similar set of questions for my 4th gen so look forward to seeing what others may suggest to you.

What do you want to drive? You don't need any mods to go places and I cannot think of one trail I would drive with a steel bumper that I would not with the stock one. If you need a winch because of offroading in forested areas in spring and the like, you could use a hidden winch mount or purchase a slimline bumper if you are using the winch all the time. But then you would want to replace the front coils and, better, the front coils and all shocks. Or you can wait for summer.

Once you know what you want to drive, the question is how often and with whom. Lots of people seem to get bad experiences early and then give up. I go solo. If you go out a lot on any more-than-easy 4x4 roads, you will be hitting because of distances, fatigue, kids, whatever. If you go out a lot with folks with Rubicons on 37s, you won't keep up in rocks so you may think you need mods whereas you need more time and different company. If you have a good spotter you need less, if you go with no spotter, you will need more. And so on. If you add aftermarket skid plates, you lose ground clearance up front. So they better be 3/16 steel. A full package of aftermarket skids and also sliders had no discernible effect on the front coils in my case though there may have been a 1/4 in clearance loss due to the coils.

Then it is a matter of speed, comfort, and load. Here in AZ, a performance suspension would not be a luxury. The front stock coil springs are too soft for the desert and stronger shocks would help. In Montana? Eh. For load, short of getting into Australian style over-landing, the 4R does not sag too much for moderate trails. As for difficult rated trails, a heavy load is a bad idea except for those where the difficult sections are low end and infrequent.

If you decide to get into very difficult trails, few of which are driven for anything other than the sport, then that is a different conversation that probably begins with "why not start with a Rubicon." Still, some folks here have driven very difficult trails without their vehicles looking anything like Instagram rigs.

On forums, mods are grossly overrated and done mostly for looks and much less commonly for function. And mods produce mods. The more you mod, the more you will mod: it is very hard to stop once you start. First, because you disturb an existing equilibrium and then you start figuring out how to compensate. Second, because it can become obsessive, so once you have improved X you start thinking about the entire alphabet.

The worst thing, imo, is to do things halfheartedly and cheaply and to forget that mods can impact safety and more under the right set of circumstances.

Above all, the idea that a 4Runner needs anything other than tires, air compressor, and a shovel to go offroad while pushed around by self-interested parties is hilarious. But it is true that going often can make you transition from need to want, justifiably so. In that case, it is best to identify the needs as you go and then improve carefully understanding what further mods, if any, the first one might drag with itself.

Very well written @MAST4R

My first offroading experience (that led me to buy my 4R) was in a JK Wrangler on 37's (not a Rubicon). Honestly, looking back on what we did in that thing, I'm not sure I'd try the same in my 4R but that's fine because that was in Colorado, and I live in Ohio.

MAST4R's advice is excellent. I'll just throw this out as an addition.

"The offroader's paradox":
- With sufficient money, your vehicle can be modified to conquer any trail.
- There will always be, somewhere, a trail that will defeat your vehicle regardless of mods.

You just have to decide where in the continuum you want to play. Roads rated 3? 5? 9? You pays your money and takes your choice.

What about the Limited. From what I read online and just looking at the front of mine, it seems I'd be very "limited" off-pavement, unless I replaced the bottom? So, I started looking at aftermarket front bumpers and the few made for the Limited are too radical (aesthetically).

Well, it is all a game of words until you tell us what you want to drive. What part of the country? What trails, by name? What 4x4 guides, print or online, are you using?

In the Southwest, I would personally take a stock Limited on any Charlie Wells moderate trail or a 5 in Peter Massey (so long as it has AT tires).

You have a road optimized suspension but that should not be an issue on any of those trails. Give yourself and the vehicle breaks if traveling on washboard for a long time.

There are thousands of trails and dirt roads easily drivable in a Limited. There is no need to drive the few dozen notorious and the couple hundred less well-known hardcore trails to be "offroad." That's about the West. I would not take the 4R in an offroad park (speaking for the eastern parts of the country) because it is not designed as a toy.

There is also an intermediate category of trails--too much for a stock Limited but not hardcore, crazy, or done merely for the sport--which is where the TRD edition 4Runner comes into play. No idea how many of those exist in the East. They are not too many in the West, but there are enough of these and they are worth it. Of course, driving really fast and/or really long desert tracks is another intermediate area, but that's about the how question, not the where question.

EDIT: as for the front bumper question, in the Southwest that's about the last thing I would do. And to me, it is not a mod that fits the Limited. If you are going to make actual use of an approach angle of more than 33, you would first want a locker and a reasonable lift as well as underneath protection and sliders. A rear bumper would also come ahead of the front one, which is literally the last thing I would do, assuming I had any interest at all. Don't forget that only ARB tests its bumpers for crashes (I think).

The exception is if you can actually use a winch (in many parts of the country that's realistic) in which case a lightweight, slimline bumper would be a very functional upgrade but I am not sure how that would square with the Limited's different suspension. Plus, the winch is a serious mod, requiring proper maintenance and use, etc. There are crash worthiness side effects to consider and so on.